SAN JOSE — A massive, frenetic street brawl where baseball bats and shovels were wielded as weapons ended with a young male being shot to death Thursday night at an apartment complex near Spartan Stadium and Happy Hollow zoo, San Jose police and witnesses said.

The victim, who has not been identified and was generally described as a male in his mid- to late teens, was involved in a fight reported around 10:20 p.m. on South 12th Street just north of Keyes Street, police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said.

At least eight and as many as a dozen people were involved in the brawl, which made for a chaotic scene.

“It was on the street and sidewalk. It was spilling out into the neighborhood,” Morales said. “People were running, people were getting chased.”

Some of the combatants, police and witnesses said, were armed with baseball bats and shovels taken from a nearby truck.

Amid the melee, gunshots were fired, Morales said. Witnesses said the victim was running either from or with other people into the courtyard of a nearby apartment complex when another shot was fired. The victim, described by police so far only as having a “youthful appearance,” was hit and crumpled next to a stairwell.

By the time officers arrived, everyone involved in the brawl had scattered and disappeared, Morales said. They were directed by witnesses to the apartment complex, where they found the shooting victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

It marked the city’s 19th homicide of 2014. At this point last year, the city had recorded 24 slayings.

Motives for the brawl and shooting were hard to come by Friday. Morales said authorities were still working to positively identify the victim.

One witness, who asked not to be named out of safety concerns, told this newspaper that earlier in the evening, men holding baseball bats were walking in the area and acted as if they were looking for someone.

While violence, particularly gang-related, is known to occur in the area, the manager of the apartment complex where the victim died said there have been no problems at the complex before Thursday’s occurrence.

“I’ve been manager here for six years, and we’ve never had any instance of break-in, violence or crime,” Randall Coker said, adding that the victim did not live at the complex.

Anyone with information about the case can contact homicide detectives at 408-277-5283 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcrimestoppers.org.

Check back later for updates to this story.

Staff writer Katie Nelson contributed to this report. Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.

Robert Salonga is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering criminal justice and public safety for The Mercury News. A San Jose native, he attended UCLA and has a Master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously reported in Washington, D.C., Salinas and the East Bay, and is a middling triathlete. Reach him the low-tech way at 408-920-5002.

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